SRN On Marketing

Check out Sweeter Romantic Notions today for a blog on getting started marketing yourself as an author. Maggie Toussaint shares what she's learned since she began:

With my almost a year of marketing experience under my belt, my best advice is to take a deep breath. It doesn’t do any good to run in circles screaming and shouting (been there, done that). If your publisher doesn’t have a welcome packet to initiate you into the world of promotion, or even if it does, it’s a good idea to find a mentor. Someone who knows the ropes in your genre can shave hours off your time spent in promotion...

Read the rest of the article!

Book Trailers with Power Point

My friend and fellow author Leigh Barbour has written a great article on how she made her book trailer using Power Point:

Now, when you're satisfied with the way your trailer looks and sounds in PowerPoint slide show, most of the work is done. At this point you need to convert the .ppt format (PowerPoint) to video format.

I use a tool called PowerVideoMaker.... It has a free version that you can use or you can purchase it.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Leigh Barbour
Author of ZEBULON (The Wild Rose Press)

Book Trailers for the Faint of Heart

I must admit that I've been putting off doing a book trailer. Why? Looking at all those darn instructions makes my head spin. So here are a few samples I've made from web-based software programs (all free, of course, because I'm totally cheap) and my comments on their usability:

One True Media
The website sure is pretty, but the quality of the final product kind of sucks. Check it out:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Slideroll
If you've never used a clip editing program before, there's a bit of a learning curve. The help files are a little cryptic too, but the end product is worth the hassle:

Make a Free Flash Slideshow

More to come as I play around with slideshow editors...

If you're completely at a loss, don't forget to check out paid book trailer makers. Here's a partial list:

Allie Boniface - $75 for the complete book trailer package, email Allie for details
BooKEy Book Trailers
Preview The Book
Taryn Simpson

And here are some places where you can show your book trailer:

Preview The Book
The Romance Theatre
Watch The Book

As always, please leave suggestions for other book trailer stuff in the comments.

Trailers With XP

Kevin Lucia has written up a detailed article on how to do a book trailer using free software you already have if you're running Windows XP.

He's managed to simplify, even for those of us who don't really "do" multimedia. Check out the article.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Making Book Trailers

Author Michelle Pillow wrote a great 3-part series on making book trailers. Check it out:

Book Videos (AKA Book Trailers) have been sweeping across the internet. For those of you just starting out with this new medium of marketing, it can be a little daunting as to where to start. The good news is there are a couple free basic programs out there to make the transition from author to movie maker easier.

To read the rest of the article, go to Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Michelle Pillow
Author of MAIDEN AND THE MONSTER (Ellora's Cave)

Being a Tease

I'm talking about the video or animated variety [of teasers] that many authors are using as previews to entice potential readers to check out their book. It makes sense. We're living in a video age of flash and animated video games, Xboxes, DVDs, infomercials, music videos, YouTube.com, etc. It seems a natural for the book blurb to evolve into the entertainment equivalent of the movie trailer...

To read the rest of this article, click here.

Karen Duvall
Author of DESERT GUARDIAN (The Wild Rose Press)
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